CHARLESTON / S.C. // DEC / 19 / 1861 cds with [DUE] 2, CSA Catalog type H, on cover endorsed “Official & Medical Purveyors Bureau” to Lieut. R. Dewar Bacot, Phoenix Rifles. SCARCE DROP RATE. Robert Dewar Bacot (1821-1903) was an officer in Co. A, Confederate 14th Cavalry, antebellum a Charleston businessman and slave holder and President of the Phoenix Fire Co. Family papers in the SC Historical Society. [SC] $600.

BACOT, ROBERT DEWAR (1821-1903). Son of Thomas Wright Bacot, Jr., of Charleston, South Carolina, who was assistant postmaster to his father, Thomas Wright Bacot, the first postmaster at Charleston under the United States Constitution of 1787, appointed by George Washington in 1791, and continued in office until his death in 1834. After his father's death T. W. Bacot, Jr., held the same position with W. Alfred Huger, who was postmaster until his death in 1851. The mother of Robert Dewar Bacot was Harriet S. Dewar. Mr. Bacot was born at Charleston, South Carolina, October 16, 1821. At tended the private schools in Charleston, and Flushing Institute, at Flushing, Long Island, with a view of going to West Point, but on account of political influence brought to bear he was unable to attend the last named institution. He embarked in business as a cotton merchant. In 1842 he entered the business house of William C. Murray, a cotton merchant of Charleston, as clerk. Finally he became the head of the house. He was for years a member of the Charleston volunteer fire department, being president of the Old Phoenix Fire Engine Company at the time of the great fire of December 1861. Served in the Confederate War. Married, April 18, 1843, Julia Amanda Huger, of Charleston, a daughter of Daniel Huger, at one time Secretary of State of South Carolina.